The European Union Review 

La politique étrangère et de la sécurité de De Gasperi: une hypothèse d’interprétation

Daniela Preda - Université de Genova, Italie

The most significant results of De Gasperi’s foreign and security policies are well-known: signature of the peace treaty, abstention from the Brussels Pact, OECD membership (and his attempt to transform the latter into more than a mere intergovernmental body for economic cooperation), participation in the European Council, membership in the Atlantic Treaty and the ECSC (and the strenuous struggle to found the ECD and a European Political Community). Behind all these activities lies the search for peace, a target that De Gasperi has pursued both obstinately and cautiously. For De Gasperi the first stage in achieving this peace, which should in turn lead to social justice, political and individual freedom, is European unity. De Gasperi’s foreign and security policies include the creation of a joint army, but do not stop there. De Gasperi’s great merit is to have persevered in taking action in an incisive, urgent and persevering way, so as to build a European Community policy going over and beyond a joint European army. His security policy cannot be considered as a simple implementation of military defence, but (and we are dealing with an extremely current meaning) as a means of creating the political conditions for peace.